


Both Authentic and Strong

by Galpaladin



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Caretaking, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Flirting, F/F, Healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29718093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galpaladin/pseuds/Galpaladin
Summary: After breaking her wrist, Byleth pays Manuela a visit. Manuela shares her wine in hopes of garnering some girl talk, but quickly finds that Byleth can't hold her drink nor her fondness towards her.
Relationships: Manuela Casagranda & My Unit | Byleth, Manuela Casagranda/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	Both Authentic and Strong

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift piece for my friend, Claire. Please enjoy!

“My, this is the third time this week I’ve seen you in here, Professor.”

Perhaps Byleth would have met Manuela’s teasing lilt with a raised brow if it weren’t for the aching in her head, the stabbing in her wrist. 

She was right, of course. Poor luck had made the professor a regular in the infirmary this week. All the white magic in the world wouldn’t fix a wrist if it wasn’t set right and Manuela earned her position for a reason. She was an impeccable healer.. If you caught her at the right time.

Thankfully for Byleth, now was fortunately the right time, which was rare in the evenings. Manuela set to work quick, splinting her wrist with careful, sure hands. The pain made her thoughts swim, so Byleth grounded herself by focusing on the woman before her. Manuela was so mature and it eased her mind to imagine relenting under her care. 

Her daydreaming was soon interrupted.

“There now,” Manuela seemed satisfied with her work, “How does that feel?”

“Much better,” Byleth admitted, shaking off the last vestiges of an illicit thought, “It’s set.”

“Good. I’ll finish the spell in a moment,” Manuela assured her with a wink, “The swelling needs to go down just a little first.”

With that, Manuela left her to pull up a chair by her side, “I hope you don’t mind chatting with me in the meantime. I just wanted to make sure our newest professor is adjusting well.”

While Byleth formulated a short response, she continued.

“I know you’re not much for conversation,” Manuela filled in the silence that followed, “but you know you can always see me not only for aches of the body.. But for the heart as well.”

“Oh, uh,” Byleth scrambled for a graceful answer, “No, I’m good. My heart is. I don’t..”

She stopped herself before going any further, feeling her cheeks warm. 

“Nobody? That’s a surprise,” Manuela slumped her shoulder in disappointment, “and here I was hoping we could talk about someone else’s romantic exploits for once. Get some girl talk in.”

Girl talk? Byleth tried to recall a time where she had indulged in such a thing and couldn’t. It’s not like she had much time to entertain romance between training with her father and mercenary work. 

“I’m not sure I have had time for anything exciting,” Byleth noted quietly. Deep in thought, she absent-mindedly scratched at the new binding upon her wrist only to be met with pain anew.

“Ugh, I really did break it, huh?”

“You did,” Manuela considered her grimace with concern and stood to cross the room, “It shouldn’t be that much longer until I can try out a spell but I think I have something that might help in the meantime.”

“It’s just.. up here,” Manuela’s voice was strained as she stretched to reach an upper cabinet. She barely dodged out of the way in time for most of the contents to cascade out and tumble onto the infirmary floor with a crash. 

After haphazardly stuffing what she could back in, she returned, a slender wine bottle in tow and a triumphant grin.

“Have a glass and relax a little! We can talk about men or knights or ourselves,” she offered her a glass with a heavy-handed pour and Byleth accepted, curious of the taste. 

She had beer before. Her father offered one when she was 13 and she recoiled from the taste, vowing not to try it again. The pink light drink that sparkled in her hand was much different. She had a sip, remarking aside that the taste was not too far from juice, much to Manuela’s amusement.

“It’s a moscato. Don’t drink too much if you’re not used to it. I don’t want to hear it from Hanneman tomorrow if you wake up with a headache.”

“I’ll be fine,” Byleth assured her, downing her glass for good measure, “Girl talk. So, you wanted to talk about the knights?”

The knights.. Catherine, Jeritza, Alois, Shamir. And her dad. She visibly scoffed.

“What?” Manuela caught onto her contempt easily, “Not even Jeritza? None of them catch your eye?”

“Jeritza is definitely a bit strange,” Byleth admitted, “Sometimes he looks at me and I’m not sure if he wants to kill me or kiss me.”

Manuela laughed into her glass as she finished it off and proceeded to pour herself another generous helping, “Sometimes I can catch a date with one of the younger, newer knights. It usually doesn’t get very far.”

“It’s too bad,” she lamented, “I really am in my prime.”  
There was a wistfulness in her tone as she slumped into the chair beside her again and offered up the bottle, which Byleth took graciously. 

“That’s always a bit surprising to me,” Byleth smiled, feeling candid for once, “You keep telling me all these horror stories about men running off in the heat of a date and I think it’s more to do with them then it is you.”

The wine had loosened both her tongue and mind and it was a pleasant feeling. She was in good company and the pain in her wrist was subsiding to an afterthought.

“You laugh but I’m serious! I think a lot of men see you as, you know, some untouchable opera diva of perfection..”

Byleth paused momentarily to look her over and could envision it easily. Beautiful and graceful Manuela, whose voice could shake an audience, but that was one of many masks that she could wear. 

“I think the moment men see the real version of you, they run scared. A perfect woman is easy to imagine, but a woman who is both authentic and strong, that’s harder to wrap your mind around.”

Manuela was leaning towards her now with a bemused expression. As Byleth paused to drink deeply from her own cup again, she filled the gap, “You know, I think this is the first time I’ve seen you talk so much!”

“Please, go on!” She encouraged her empathetically, topping her glass off, “I like to hear about myself.”

“Seriously!” Byleth began spiraling into a borderline rant, “Most men are cowards. They see a strong woman who defies their expectations and they don’t know what to make of her! Manuela, don’t waste your time with these flighty young men who balk at the sight of a messy room. They’re just looking for someone to pick up after them.”

“My, is that what you think?”

“It’s obvious to anyone with half a brain that you’re beautiful and experienced and headstrong! Why they all pin you in as some limpet opera floozy is completely beyond me. It’s ridiculous. I mean, just look at you!”

Her mind caught up with her words toward the end and she could feel her cheeks burning. Embarrassment tickled at the back of her thoughts somewhere. She drowned it out with yet another glass. 

“That’s something coming from you, you know,” Manuela demurred with a sigh, “You’re the talk of the school.”

“Well, just wait until the newness wears off. What?”

She was caught mid-scoff by Manuela plucking the wine glass out of her hands with a smile. 

“You don’t drink often, do you?”

There was an ounce of surprise in her expression. Her manicured brows arched high.

"Er, no," Byleth swallowed her own embarrassment, "Never had the company to do that in."

"Really. You are Jeralt's daughter. I thought you'd be able to handle a few glasses of wine just, uh," Manuela paused, "Anyways! Let's get you patched up!"

"And let's keep this between you and me."

Manuela shot her a sly smirk before leaning over to cast her spell. There was a flash of hot, white pain, then it was over. Her wrist felt as it did before she threw it out parrying Sylvain into a simple pile on the floor. 

"What? This conversation?" Byleth examined her handiwork, rolling her wrist around to test it. Seamless. 

"You're quite the flirt a few glasses in. Either that or terribly kind and naive. Let's meet again sometime and see if you can't keep that same energy without the drink."

She bade her farewell with a wink and Byleth stood outside the infirmary room for ages, cheeks burning. 

Again? She rolled the idea through her swimming thoughts. Again.

As she made her way back to her room and flopped down into her bed, the message finally clicked. 

"Did she ask me out on a date???"


End file.
